Robert Sciarrino/The Star-LedgerGov.-elect Chris Christie, Lt. Gov.-elect Kim Guadagno, and Mayor John McCormac walk down Main Street in Woodbridge.

When Gov. Jon Corzine came into office as a Wall Street whiz and criticized all the financial activity that preceeded him, John McCormac was none too pleased. McCormac, the state treasurer under Govs. Jim McGreevey and Richard Codey, and now mayor of Woodbridge, also disliked how Corzine dissed key Democratic mayors of large towns.

Now comes the payback. McCormac, whose township of 100,000 residents surprisingly voted Republican on Tuesday, wasted no time stepping out with GOP Gov.-elect Chris Christie on Thursday. And three sources tell The Auditor that McCormac is likely to be a part of Christie’s transition team.

The pair yukked it up during their tour of Woodbridge, with Christie at one point bumping into the mayor’s dentist and telling another passerby: "The mayor’s doing a great job." He heaped praise on McCormac at a news conference in a diner parking lot.

McCormac declined to speculate on why his town went for Christie, but said he is "willing to help" the new governor, "because I expect to get help from them, and whatever he needs me to do, I’m happy to do."

To add a layer of irony, McCormac was state treasurer when Democrats like Sen. Wayne Bryant talked of tapping into the "MAC" account — a play on McCormac’s name and ATMs — to get money for "Christmas tree" projects in their districts. Christie convicted Bryant as part of a probe into that process.

When the dust settled after Election Day, it was clear that Corzine’s numbers were far worse than expected in some key Democratic areas. And Christie’s first post-election appearance at the Robert Treat Academy in Newark only further aroused suspicions that party bosses did not go all-out for Corzine.

Codey said the results demonstrate the treachery in some quarters of the state’s Democratic Party. He declined to name names, but he made his comments after it was announced that Christie’s first post-victory event would be held at the crown jewel of the empire controlled by Newark Democratic powerbroker Steve Adubato.

"Clearly there were people in our own party who didn’t want the governor to win," Codey said. "It’s sad but it’s true."

Adubato, a political foe of Codey who helped orchestrate the deal to replace him as Senate President with Senate Majority Leader Steve Sweeney (D-Gloucester), brushed off Codey’s suggestion that something was rotten in the county of Essex.

"How about the word paranoia?" Adubato told The Auditor. "Dick is a good man, a decent guy, but you know something? The senators, I told him, they’re not against you. It’s their self interest. They want change, that’s all."

As for Christie, Adubato commended him for showing up at Robert Treat. "He’s the governor. I love to have him here."

What about Disney World?

What do you do after you win — or lose — the most powerful governorship in the nation?

The loser went on vacation. The winner said "I’m goin’ to a Springsteen concert!"

After his post-election conversation with Corzine, Christie said the lame-duck governor "is getting ready to go on vacation. He sounded like a guy getting ready to go on vacation."

Corzine’s office would not tell The Auditor where he was headed or when he would be back.

Christie was not as shy. He planned to see another Bruce Springsteen

concert (he’s been to more than 120) at Madison Square Garden — and maybe go backstage and test out his new clout to get the Boss to play his inaugural.

"I’ll go see ... if we can do something," Christie told The Auditor. "But they’re just coming off a very big tour that they’re going to end up in November, and they’ve been touring for over a year, so they may be really tired, too. They’re getting a little older. So we’ll see what happens."

Christie, who was critical of Corzine’s out-of-state travel during the campaign, said he would inform the press corps when he leaves New Jersey, but when he’s on vacation "I probably won’t say exactly where I’m going."

"But other than that, I don’t see any reason why not to be transparent about it," he said.